The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 18Dryden, John
General
The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 18
Dryden, John
English literature
to his greatness, had it not been for that true British worthy, who,
meeting with the venerable remains of the neglected bard passing
silently in a coach, unregarded to his last home, ordered the corpse,
by the consent of his few friends that attended him, to be respited
from so obscure an interment, and most generously undertook, at his
own expence, to revive his worth in the minds of a forgetful people,
by bestowing on his peaceful dust a solemn funeral answerable to his
merit; which memorable action alone will eternalize his fame with the
greatest heroes, and add that lustre to his nobility, which time can
never tarnish, but will shine with equal glory in all ages, and in
the very teeth of envy bid defiance to oblivion. The management of
the funeral was left to Mr Russel, pursuant to the directions of that
honourable great man the lord Jefferies, concerned chiefly in the pious
undertaking.
“The first honour done to his deserving relics, was lodging them in
Physicians College, from whence they were appointed to take their
last remove. The constituted day for the celebration of that office,
which living heroes perform in respect to a dead worthy, was Monday
the 13th of May, in the afternoon; at which time, according to the
notice given, most of the nobility and gentry now in town assembled
themselves together at the noble edifice aforesaid, in order to honour
the corpse with their personal attendance. When the company were met,
a performance of grave music, adapted to the solemn occasion, was
communicated to the ears of the company, by the hands of the best
masters in England, whose artful touches on their soft instruments
diffused such harmonious influence amongst the attentive auditory, that
the most heroic spirits in the whole assembly were unable to resist
the passionate force of each dissolving strain, but melted into tears
for the loss of so elegant and sweet a ravisher of human minds; and,
notwithstanding their undaunted bravery, which had oft scorned death
in the field, yet now, by music’s enchantment at the funeral of so
great a poet, were softened beneath their own natures, into a serious
reflection on mortality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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